Funny, I overheard almost the same conversation fifteen years ago.

Awwww... Too cute. We don't have MLK day here (in Canada)... too bad really. Seems like a pretty important thing for kids to learn about.

There is something reassuring about trying to explain MLK & the civil rights movement to little ones. They look at you like you are crazy - the very idea that people would be treated differently because of the color of their skin? Grandma - you must be pulling my leg.

Great conversation! It's nice to see them trying to understand at such a young age.

That's awesome. :)

one of the first graders to whom i teach art asked "who's mars'n lusir king?" when i told them we wouldn't have art this week because it was mlk day. ahh, i said, thinking fast: he was man who had a dream that everybody should be free, so we celebrate him this coming monday. that was fine; but then another one asked if he was still alive. not knowing where that came from, still i didn't wanna go there. so i lined them up to go back to their classroom, where they'd hear all about it during the ensuing week. god bless classroom teachers.

Way to go, S.
Nice to take a moment to think about why we have a national holiday to honor MLK.

My seven year old told me he freed the slaves. I started to explain, then decided that was probably close enough.

Special and nice are excellent words for MLK jr! I only wish I had the day off!

That's a perfect start. More details will be added as they get older. For today, that is enough.

LOL, he's the great guy who got us a day off school.

If you get a chance, read the book "Daisy and the Doll" by Michael Medearis and Angela Shelf Medearis. I read this aloud to a group of my students during our MLK week study and we had a long discussion about it afterwards. It's a story that was told by Daisy Turner, a 100-year-old black woman who has lived in Vermont all her life. When she was a child, she was given a black rag doll and told to recite a poem at a school presentation, but the poem made her so outraged at the differences between her and the other (white) girls that at the performance she recited a different poem that she made up on the spot.

If you can't find a copy of the book, you can go to http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/childrens-books/daisy-doll/audio-photos.shtml and listen to Daisy herself retell this story. My students were enthralled to hear Daisy's own voice telling the story-- it made it so real to them.

My favorite quote: "Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men." ~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Good conversation, Mom!

I didn't realize MLK day was a holiday.

Sounds like there needs to be a little more awareness...
But when you're 5/6 it really comes down to an extra long weekend.

my 5yo dd cam home proclaiming it was "Martha Luthin King Day". She also believes God is female.